A weekly thread about the past
Few figures loom larger in America’s liberal demonology than J. Edgar Hoover. In his forty-eight years as Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Hoover transformed a minor arm of the Justice Department into the nation’s most powerful law enforcement … Continue reading History Thread: Beverly Gage’s G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century (2022)
Hello everyone! This week we’ll do a prompt that I’m sure we’ve discussed in the distant past. What are your pet peeves when it comes to historical writing, documentaries, etc.? Is there a tendency among certain historians that annoy you? … Continue reading The Annoying History Thread
Again I didn’t have time to dredge up a racist clown to write about, so let’s settle for a discussion topic (suggested as I recall by uh, clem in last night’s Politics Thread). Optional topic: How is history taught in … Continue reading The Educational History Thread
This week’s History Thread (inspired by a suggestion by Headphone Princess last night) discusses: what historical event would you like to see receive a movie or miniseries adaptation? Who or what would you like to see greater exposure via pop … Continue reading History Thread Presents!
Friday will mark the fifth anniversary of How We Got Here, my first experiment with long-form history writing on this site. I still use the tag occasionally but found it more useful to fold my articles into the History Thread. … Continue reading A Historic History Thread
In the aftermath of World War I, Americans became obsessed with fitness. The sacrifices of the Great War and the catastrophic flu epidemic intermingled with the postwar Red Scare, a fear of radical politics and immigrants in general. Some solutions … Continue reading History Thread: Cho-Cho and the Jester Race
Discuss history. Continue reading History Thread
Since Ken Burns’ documentary The US and the Holocaust made it timely – I decided to consolidate my old posts on the American fascist movements of the ’30s and ’40s under a comprehensive tag. I have been very proud of … Continue reading History Thread: A Brief History of American Fascism
Tales of giant squid and outsized octopuses have haunted mankind since ancient times. The fact that enormous beasts lurk beneath the ocean waves is no secret, and the discovery of a creature with tentacles the length of a football field … Continue reading History Thread: The Squid That Eats Man
In his time, King Edward VIII was a romantic figure who abdicated the British throne in December 1936 for the sake of the woman he loved. For years, this romantic explanation that generally held; he (now reduced to the Duke … Continue reading History Thread: Philip Ziegler’s King Edward VIII (1991)
Richard J. Evans focused primarily on the history of German feminism and social movements before his involvement in David Irving’s libel action against Deborah Lipstadt, where he systematically demolished Irving’s Holocaust denial (an experience recounted in his book, Lying About … Continue reading History Thread: Richard J. Evans’ Third Reich Trilogy
In Western culture, the symbol of the swastika – the four-armed, hooked cross – remains an obvious visual shorthand for ideological evil. Nazi Germany’s adoption of the hakenkreuz beneath which they waged the Second World War and the attempted extermination … Continue reading History Thread: How the Swastika Became a Hate Symbol
According to Wikipedia, thirty-one years ago today the World Wide Web was opened to the public. On the one hand, we on this site wouldn’t be here today if it weren’t for that milestone in human achievement. On the other, … Continue reading The Internet History Thread
A Brief Overview of the Indian Residential School system in Canada Hello friends 🙂 I’m not an expert in First Nations Studies nor History nor Theology, but I am a Canadian citizen, a person living in Canada, and an Anglican, … Continue reading History Thread: Intro to Residential Schools in Canada
There’s an old quote, generally attributed to Mark Twain, that “history doesn’t repeat itself but sometimes it rhymes.” That nostrum seems especially appropriate on August 9, 2022. This marks the 48th anniversary of Richard Nixon’s resignation, which seems singularly appropriate … Continue reading History Thread: The Watergate Scorecard
For those of you who pay attention to such things, there’s been quite the kerfuffle on History Twitter over the past week. A short version, along with some pertinent tweets and commentary. Jonathan M. Katz, a journalist and historian, published … Continue reading History Thread: Attack of the Pod Bros
This week’s History Thead is over to you. Continue reading The Emergency History Thread Nationalises The Canal
Today marks the anniversary of the Seneca Falls Convention, the 1848 gathering of early American feminists which helped launch the Women’s Rights Movement in that country. Spearheaded by Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, the convention issued an eloquent appeal … Continue reading The Seneca Falls History Thread
This week’s History Thread is exciting to hear what you’ve been reading, or seeing, or thinking about. Continue reading The Weekly History Thread Hands It Over To You
77 years ago today, the people of Britain went to the polls – Nazi Germany had been defeated, the Japanese Empire had yet to surrender. It took three weeks for the results to be announced, with ballot boxes kept under … Continue reading The History Thread takes a critical look at Attlee’s Britain
For various reasons, the important thing I wanted to write– about the rise of the Salazar dictatorship in Portugal and how my dad’s family fled to this country to avoid having Salazar’s government send more of his brothers to go … Continue reading The June 28th History Thread Is At A Loss
